Archive for November, 2011

This is a psalm that I have read many times. And I have a confession. I have often read verse 1 of this psalm and thought, God is telling me not to hang out with those who are described by the terms wicked, sinner, or scoffers. When you are battling self righteousness it is often easy to see sins in others that you have a hard time looking at in your own heart. I don’t write any of these posts from a place of having all of these things figured out. I write them from the stance of someone who is desiring to live out what God has been challenging me with in this Psalm. The most convicting thing about reading through this passage recently was to come to the conclusion that these are not people I need to avoid, these are attitudes and deceptions of my own heart that I often fall into and struggle with.

The part of this passage that talks about scoffers or mockers has been one of the most convicting for me over the past several weeks as I have done an honest assessment of where I am at and been willing to look at things I struggle with. What does it mean to sit in the seat of scoffers? First we have to understand what a scoffer is. A scoffer is a person who speaks to someone or about something in a derisive or mocking way. The reason I would sit down in that seat is because I feel I have the right to sit there. The seat of a scoffer is a seat of self righteousness. An unholy judgment throne. It is a personal throne where if I feel better than someone else or see something that they are doing that I disagree with, I feel that I have a right to point that out, speak that to others, or justify my actions by comparing myself to someone I think I am better than.

We mock others many times because we feel bad about ourselves. Some times what we dislike and dispise about them is actually what we secretly can’t stand about ourselves. So, when I mock someone, I have found for me that it is because I lack God’s heart for them, a relationship with them, or the courage to love them.

If I lack God’s heart for them, I won’t see people the way God sees people, and I will lack compassion and understanding when I talk with them. If I lack a relationship with them, it makes it easier to make cutting remarks about them, because I don’t think about how it would affect them if I said my statement to their face. And if I lack the courage to have a real conversation with someone about my concern, then I will limit myself from having true and honest relationship and I will be disobedient to truly love them the way God has called me to.

I don’t want to sit in the seat of a scoffer any longer. Self righteousness is a deceptive disease. Jesus can set us free.